Real estate firms unprotected against fraud and corruption #PR

The IBR survey revealed that 42 percent of businesses are optimistic for the sector in 2014, led by Southeast Asia (78 percent). The Philippines have the strongest level of optimism at 70 percent whilst Thailand showed strongly at 60 percent. Similar levels of optimism can be found in Latin America (60 percent) and North America (56 percent). Europe (33 percent), however, is somewhat polarised between persistent pessimism in southern Europe but growing optimism across northern and eastern parts of the region. This optimism is feeding into business growth prospects for the year ahead, with an increasing proportion expecting to raise revenue and profitability in 2014, compared with this time last year.